The old adage “there are no atheists in fox holes” may be true for the more religiously inclined, but much less so for the more rational or scientific-minded amongst us.

A recent study by psychologist at University of Oxford, in the UK, finds that a certain “faith” in the explanatory power of Science increases when subjects were experiencing stress or anxiety. They surmise that this “belief in science” serves the same purpose — amongst non-religious persons — as the belief in god (or a higher power) does for religious folks.

Previous studies had found that religious belief serves as a coping mechanism for persons experiencing stress and anxiety (Inzlicht et al, 2012, Norenzayan & Hansen, 2006), and served to “compensate for lack of control” (Kay et al, 2009). The Oxford researchers decided to follow up on this with new studies to determine if this effect was specific to religious belief, or, if it was in fact a more general mechanism, that is, whether the coping power was an effect of belief itself.

Dr Miguel Farias, the study’s lead researcher in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, explains:

“We found that being in a more stressful or anxiety-inducing situation increased participants’ ‘belief in science’. This belief in science we looked at says nothing of the legitimacy of science itself. Rather we were interested in the values individuals hold about science.” [quote source: Oxford University press release]

Regarding these values, Dr. Farias elaborated further:

“While most people accept science as a reliable source of knowledge about the world, some may hold science as a superior method for gathering knowledge, the only way to explain the world, or as having some unique and fundamental value in itself. This is a view of science that some atheists endorse.”

The Experiments – Rowing and Writing

To more accurately gauge a person’s belief in science, the researchers first devised a ‘belief’ scale comprised of ten statements asking participants how much they “agreed or disagreed”. Example statements included:

‘Science tells us everything there is to know about what reality consists of.’

‘All the tasks human beings face are soluble by science.’

‘The scientific method is the only reliable path to knowledge.’

Next, the researchers focused on a cohort of subjects who would be experiencing real-life stress: a group of 100 rowers, 52 of whom were soon to be engaged in a rowing competition (known as a regatta) — presumed to be at a higher stress level — and the remaining 48 were about to do a normal practice session (presumed to be less stressed).

Results of this first experiment: those who were about to compete in the regatta (who reported feeling more stress) returned scores showing a greater belief in science than those doing the normal training session. The differences were considered “statistically significant”. Both groups of rowers reported a lower degree of “religiosity” (i.e., their belief in science was negatively correlated with religiosity, or religious faith).

In the second experiment, 60 subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was told to think about their own death (“primed with mortality”) and then write down any feelings aroused by this existential contemplation (this strategy to induce ‘existential anxiety’ has been used in other studies). The members of the second group were asked to write about experiences with dental pain. The results: study participants tasked with writing about their own deaths scored higher of the belief in science scale.

Summing It All Up

The researchers had initially predicted that “stress and existential anxiety” would result in greater belief in science. Results corroborated this prediction. The general findings of this research:

• Athletes about to compete (vs. training) reported greater

belief in science.

• Mortality salience increased belief in science but not in

scientific determinism.

• Secular individuals benefit from believing in science.

The researchers concluded that the study’s results were consistent with the notion that belief in science increases when secular individuals are placed in stressful (or “threatening”) situations. They further suggest that this belief may aid non-religious people in dealing with adverse conditions.

However, Farias also acknowledged the study’s limitations; it showed only that stress or anxiety increased belief in science. it did not examine whether affirming this belief would subsequently reduce the experience of stress or anxiety.

Growing evidence indicates that religious belief helps individuals to cope with stress and anxiety. But is this effect specific to supernatural beliefs, or is it a more general function of belief – including belief in science? We developed a measure of belief in science and conducted two experiments in which we manipulated stress and existential anxiety. In Experiment 1, we assessed rowers about to compete (high-stress condition) and rowers at a training session (low-stress condition). As predicted, rowers in the high-stress group reported greater belief in science. In Experiment 2, participants primed with mortality (vs. participants in a control condition) reported greater belief in science. In both experiments, belief in science was negatively correlated with religiosity. Thus, some secular individuals may use science as a form of “faith” that helps them to deal with stressful and anxiety-provoking situations.

About the Author

Michael Ricciardi Michael Ricciardi is a well-published writer of science/nature/technology articles as well as essays, poetry and short fiction. Michael has interviewed dozen of scientists from many scientific fields, including Brain Greene, Paul Steinhardt, Arthur Shapiro, and Nobel Laureate Ilya Progogine (deceased).
Michael was trained as a naturalist and taught natural science on Cape Cod, Mass. from 1986-1991. His first arts grant was for production of the environmental (video) documentary 'The Jones River - A Natural History', 1987-88 (Kingston, Mass.).
Michael is an award winning, internationally screened video artist. Two of his more recent short videos; 'A Time of Water Bountiful' and 'My Name is HAM' (an "imagined memoir" about the first chimp in space), and several other short videos, can be viewed on his website (http://www.chaosmosis.net). He is also the author of the ebook 'Zombies, E.T's, and The Super Entity - A Selection of Most Stimulating Articles' and for Kindle: Artful Survival ~ Creative Options for Chaotic Times

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Frankly, I don’t really “believe” in anything. I keep myself relaxed and sane by writing, performing and listening to music. The one I’ll share with you below is jazzy and is about as soothing as you can get. It’s actually called “Peace of Mind,” and is more or less about trying to attain that elusive state. It’s been percolating full-blown in my head for almost 40 years, helping keep the anxiety at bay. Ironically, I have my recently deceased sister Lynn to thank for both the inspiration and the opportunity to do something with it. She died of a brain-wasting disease called CJD, which is basically Mad Cow, no matter what the CDC or the AMA says. It was a terrible way to go, especially for someone who considered herself a spiritualist and healer. She willed me her Yamaha keyboard, which had a bunch of jazzerific sound patches on it that enabled me to get the sound I’d been hearing in my head all these years.

Frankly, I don’t really “believe” in anything. I keep myself relaxed and sane by writing, performing and listening to music. The one I’ll share with you below is jazzy and is about as soothing as you can get. It’s actually called “Peace of Mind,” and is more or less about trying to attain that elusive state. It’s been percolating full-blown in my head for almost 40 years, helping keep the anxiety at bay. Ironically, I have my recently deceased sister Lynn to thank for both the inspiration and the opportunity to do something with it. She died of a brain-wasting disease called CJD, which is basically Mad Cow, no matter what the CDC or the AMA says. It was a terrible way to go, especially for someone who considered herself a spiritualist and healer. She willed me her Yamaha keyboard, which had a bunch of jazzerific sound patches on it that enabled me to get the sound I’d been hearing in my head all these years.

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